Combination drawing board and drawing tool



Dec. 6, 1938. F. s. SCHADE ,1

COMBINATION DRAWING BOARD AND DRAWING TO-OL Filed Oct. 18, 1937INVENYTOQR 5 fivmwrfiumur cmps 5 .54.

35 WNLWM ATTORNEYS Without the use of a T-square.

Patented Dec. 6, 1938 UNITED STATES COMBINATION DRAWING BOARD ANDDRAWING TOOL Frank Stanley Schade, Holyoke, Mass., assignor to NationalBlank Book Company, Holyoke,

Mass., a corporation Application October 18,

3 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved drawing board and an improveddrawing instrument such as a triangle to use with the board. One idea inmaking the invention is to provide drawing tools to be carried in abrief case and in the pocket or on the rings of a loose leaf book. Inthis use the area, the weight, and the thickness of the drawing toolsare important considerations.

One feature of my invention is in the means bywhich such a drawing boardcan be made thinner than prior art constructions and still provide a newand useful way to guide a tool such as a triangle over the surface ofthe board Other features will appear by comparison of the detaileddisclosure herein with prior drawing tools which are well known, and theparticulars of the invention will be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings,--

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a drawing board and triangle combinationconstructed according to my invention, but with certain parts brokenaway to better show the construction;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional elevation of the drawing board taken online 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation taken on line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the K paper-securing means takenon line 4-4 of Fig. 1

" and showing the parts in perspective;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of a modified form of paper-securing means;and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on line 6-6 of the construction shown in Fig.5.

From the drawing it will be clear that the Working surface I4 of theimproved drawing board I is defined by the grooves II. These extenddownwardly from the working surface. They are best arranged as arectangular set of intersecting shallow grooves, one for each sidetriangle and just enough out of its plane to engage any one of groovesII for guiding purposes, as in Fig. 2. The triangle l5 can thus beguided in a groove ll of board M as it would be guided generally by aT-square. But when guided by a groove as herein shown, there is lesswork for the draftsman in making sure that the triangle does not moveaway from the guiding means. While the provision of fin 16 on an edge ofthe triangle l5 increases its thickness on that edge, this increase iscompensated by carrying the fin IS in a groove ll within the necessarythickness of Massachusetts 1937, Serial No. 169,570

of the drawing board, or in some cases by overlapping fin l6 with one ofthe side edges of the drawing board.

Combining a drawing board and triangle for use together in this fashionresults in less neces-- sary thickness than any prior art combination ordrawing tools with which equivalent work can be done. This feature isimportant where, as intended, the combination is for carrying the toolsabout as in a loose leaf book or brief case. In this use the thicknessof the combination need not be more than that of a sufiiciently stiffand dense sheet of fiber board to maintain a plane for drawing, plus thethickness of an ordinary triangle. To carry the combination on the ringsof a loose leaf book I provide openings 30 in the triangle margin toregister with openings 3| in the drawing board margin. With these holesin registration both tools will hang together when fin H3 overlaps theedge of the drawing board instead of lying in a groove II.

To hold drawing paper on the board ordinary thumb tacks can be used ofcourse. But there is some advantage in holding the paper by means builtinto the drawing board at the corners. The idea of doing this in adrawing board per se is not new. But in the combination of the improveddrawing board and drawing instrument, I have disclosed novel means formaintaining the guiding function without interference when the triangleis moved across the corner portions of the paper where paper holdingmeans are located.

One kind of holding means consists of a triangular-shaped corner pieceof springy metal 3, see Figs. 1 and 4. As shown it is fastened by Irivet 5 near the outer end of a depressed flap 6 shaped like a keyholeand with its inner end integral with piece 3. The corner of the board Mis partially cut away, see Fig. 4. Flap 6 is held flat by rivet 5against the beveled corner. The construction is such that piece 3normally tends to lie with its top surface in the drawing plane of theboard. From this plane it can be tipped upwardly at the inner portion bypressing downwardly at the outer portion, against the spring action offlap- 6. The pivot line will be about at line i where the bevel at thecorner begins the inner integral end of flap 6 forming a hinge section,indicated in Fig. 1. A release of pressure will permit piece 3 to returnto normal. The cornet portion is cutdown enough to receive piece 3 withits top level with or slightly below the working surface of the board.There is an integral flange 8 at the sides and one 9 at the inneredge ofpiece 3. Flange B is received in a recess. groove ll] shown in Fig. Witha similar construction at the four corners of the board, it will beclear that the corners of a drawing sheet can be readily slipped underthe holding spring metal piece 3 and the flange 9 will carry the papercorner down into groove III to tension and hold the paper at the corner.When triangle fin l6 moves far enough in groove H, a cam end surface l8on fin [6, see Fig. 3, will engage metal piece 3 at the corner of fiange9. The triangle rides over the paper fastening means with a very slightbend in the material of the triangle while fin I6 is still in guidingcontact with groove II at portions removed from the corner obstruction.I provide a cam surface I8 at each end of fin l6 so the triangle willride over opposite corners at the ends of each groove II and increasethe facility of the tool on a board of small area. In some uses of theinvention there is an advantage in having fin 16 with cam ends extendedbeyond both faces of the triangle, above and below, instead of beyondonly one face, or downwardly, as the drawing shows. The advantage is toenable one to turn the triangle over and still have a fin guiding meansI6 to fit groove I I, or to use one fin extension to fit the guidegroove and the other fin extension to serve as a straight edge guide foranother tool sliding on top of the triangle. But I have shown only onefin extension below the triangle for guiding purposes because thiscontributes to my plan of getting a thin combination to carry about. Imention the double fin as a disclosure of my conception and so as toenable one to get drawing tool utility when the desire to get extremethinness is not so important as it is to get the added utility of thesecond fin in the combination of the board and triangle. Of course whatI call the second fin will be a duplication or mere upward extension ofthe fin I6 shown, so that no matter .on which face the triangle contactsthe board there will be a fin IE to engage the groove. The

article as disclosed in the drawings is one for use where simplicitycombined with utility is a prime consideration. So only one fin I6 isshown, although two may in some instances be wanted by the user of thenew article.

The triangle I have shown is a forty-five degree one. It is providedwith a slot cut at sixty degrees, see Fig. 1, defined by lines 26, 21,28, and 29. If the drawing paper 2 is in place and the triangle is movedwell to the right, the narrow sixty-degree slot edges 26 and 29 willslide back and forth across the right-hand edge 29 of the paper 2without tending to catch. If line 26 of the slot opening were parallelwith the paper edge 29, it would tend to catch at such edge. Thisfeature of the triangle is disclosed herein because it is a help inusing a triangle with a small sheet of paper in the portable smalldrawing board such as disclosed.

Another and simpler way of holding the paper at the corners of the boardis shown in Figs. and 6. Here a fiat piece of spring metal 34 is rivetedat 35 to form a fiat spring finger. The latter normally rests in groove33, one at each corner, extending diagonally across grooves II at eachcorner and of course intersecting such grooves. The paper can beinserted under each spring 34 when the latter is tipped up and thensnapped down' as indicated to the position of Fig. 6.

Other ways of course are available to hold the paper on the board. Thosedescribed have the preferred characteristic of having the top surface ofthe paper holding means at or below the drawing paper in normal use.contributes to the feature of getting a less bulky construction.

In triangles I5 I have shown cut-out circles 25 of different diametermerely to indicate that all sorts of drawing tool features andconveniences can be built into the tool, such as a triangle which is tobe guided over the board in the fashion described.

The openings 30 in triangle l5 and the openings 3! in the board I 4along the lower margin are shown to indicate that both parts of thecombined tool are conveniently carried as loose sheets in a loose leafbook. These openings 30 and 3| are spaced as openings in loose leafsheets are to be engaged by the rings of a loose leaf binder.

I have disclosed the features and details of my invention. which can bemade of very small bulk and thin, of remarkably good appearance, and forvery convenient drawing tool use, all to the end that one can carry thetools with almost the same convenience as the paper on which to draw.

The preferred form of the drawing board is that shown in Fig. l. Theboard appears as a fiat surface; the corners are covered with thetriangular pieces 3 as if they were mere corner reenforcements of metalalthough they actually serve as paper holding structure. The narrowgrooves ll extending along the rectangular margin appear as a decorativeline, although they actually serve as a better means of guiding thetriangle than a T-square would.

What I claim is:

1. The combination of a drawing board and a triangle having a finextending beyond the plane of the triangle and adjacent one of itsedges, said drawing board having a grooved recess to receive and guideboth sides of said fin, clips mounted at the corners of said board tohold drawing paper, said clips having their top surfaces substantiallyat the level of the drawing board, said fin having cam means to contactsaid clips and slide past without obstruction.

2". The structure of claim 1 having said clips with their top surfacessubstantially at the level of the drawing board and shaped to providetriangular corner pieces substantially flush with the upper surface ofthe board.

3. A drawing board consisting of a flat thin rectangular sheet made ofstiff enough material to maintain a drawing plane on said thin sheet,each corner portion of said sheet having a stepped down portion and abeveled portion, and at each corner a triangular cap with its topsubstantially level with the drawing plane, fastening means for said capto hold it in covering relation to said stepped down and beveledportions, a hinge section adjacent said fastening means about which thecap may pivot, and spring means to normally hold said cap level and inplace and movable to take and release corner portions of drawing paper,a guiding groove inside each edge of said sheet extending to each cornerand passing under the edge of said triangular cap adapted to hold andguide a drawing instrument from any side of the board, the edge of saidtriangular cap forming a reaction surface for a cam on the instrument tolift said instrument out of the groove at the corner of the board.

FRANK STANLEY SCHADE.

